Hurricane Marty downgraded to tropical storm off Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Marty was downgraded to a tropical storm on Tuesday, and a storm warning remained in effect from Mexican tourist haven Acapulco, Guerrero to Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The eye of the storm, which had become a category 1 hurricane on Monday evening, was about 120 miles (195 km) southwest of Acapulco, with maximum sustained winds of nearly 65 miles per hour (100 kph), NHC said.

Marty, which dropped heavy rains on coastal states and in the center of the country, is moving slowly east towards Mexico's western coastline at 2 miles per hour (4 km/h). It is expected to gradually turn north and finally northwest by Wednesday afternoon as it continues to weaken.

The storm, however, is expected to produce rainfall of 6 inches to 12 inches (15-30 cm) in Guerrero and 2 inches to 5 inches (5-13 cm) in Michoacan through Thursday.